Heart palpitations

[ktan49]

Hi all. As title says, last couple of days and now as I lie in bed wide awake.. I can feel every few mins my heart rate speed up and goes again, feel it.beating harder. anyone else had this wierd feeling?

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If the problem persists you can get your GP to do an EKG or get referred to a cardiologist who will listen to your heart with an expensive stethoscope & probably give you a monitor to wear for a couple of days that records your heartbeat which the cardiologist then analyses. He might also send you for a scan of your heart.

I've had an irregular heartbeat for much of my life as well as occasional rapid fire beating (tachycardia). My mother had the same thing so there is probably a genetic factor involved. I was checked out by a cardiologist & he found nothing wrong. He told me that stress plus things like caffeine & alcohol are the usual triggers. Being fit (which I am) makes it worse because fit people have low heartrates & the longer pause between beats gives irritants like caffeine, alcohol & stress more chance to disrupt the normal rhythm of your heart.

One time when I was in my early 30s my heartbeat became constantly irregular & I was given a drug & when it kicked-in my irregular heartbeat disappeared like magic but my heartrate was raised by about 20 beats per minute. In retrospect prolonged stress plus too much caffeine was the reason for the problem plus the fact that I was superfit & had a low heartrate in the 30s.

These days if I get skipped beats or some rapid beats I ignore it & it usually goes away. It's the sort of problem that the more you worry about the more likely it is to happen!

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Ktan,

If it’s found to be a liver problem, this could be down to Portal Hypertension or possibly elevated potassium levels. A suggestion would be to get a home blood pressure monitor that also measures your heart rate, they are not expensive and avoids white coat syndrome. If the readings trouble you, call 111 and discuss with them.

Mark

[GrandmaDylan]

I have the same thing. Mine was diagnosed as SVT . supra ventricular tachycardia. It isn't dangerous and won't damage your heart. I was offered beta blockers and or ablation...which is where they burn away the irritatable part of the heart. I declined both and have just learned to live with it.

[X19Dave]

Hi not sure what you have had done already but my wife had this pre transplant they fitted her with a heart monitor a doctor told us he had seen it before in pre transplant people but passes after transplant since the transplant 2.5 years ago the monitor has show no more heart problems all working correctly

Dave